1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic device such as a portable notebook computer (hereinafter, “notebook PC”) is generally provided with a housing having a hard disk drive (HDD) mounted therein. Reference may be had to, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) No. 2006-172371.
In recent years, NAND flash memory has been developed that is based on the same connection interface standard (ATA standard) as HDD. Such NAND flash memory is also referred to as a solid state drive (SDD). Compared to HDD, SDD offers higher performance in data reading with increased shock resistance and less power consumption.
Besides, recent notebook PCs often include a communication unit having a transmission/reception antenna used for wireless communication with a contactless IC card.
In the case of build to order (BTO) where a product is built in response to a customer order, either HDD or SDD may be exclusively mounted on the product.
The housing for mounting HDD and that for SDD are different in their internal structure, even if they resemble in appearance, because of the difference in the form and strength of the structures to hold HDD and SDD as well as the difference in their electrical characteristics. In terms of strength, HDD is heavier than SDD and needs a stronger holding structure. Besides, HDD is more susceptible to vibrations and shocks, and therefore, when mounted on a notebook PC which is supposed to be carried around, HDD is likely to be fixed to the housing via a buffer such as rubber instead of being directly fixed thereto. In terms of electrical characteristics, HDD is enclosed in a metal case, and therefore is electrically connected to GND (frame ground) through the metal case with a conductive gasket or a metal spring. On the other hand, an SDD module (a modular SDD not in a case) is in a form of a printed circuit board (PCB) without being enclosed in a case. Therefore, the SDD module itself needs to be electrically connected with screws to GND (frame ground).
For these reasons, a notebook PC needs a dedicated housing depending on whether to use HDD or SDD due to the difference in the form and strength of the structures to hold HDD and SDD and in electrical characteristics as described above. The provision of a common housing without specific countermeasures results in an increase in the thickness of notebook PCs against the tendency to make notebook PCs even thinner.
Further, if a notebook PC is mounted with a communication unit used for wireless communication with a contactless IC card, a component to hold the communication unit needs to be made of a nonconductive material such as plastic so that it does not adversely affect the communication performance. In addition, it is necessary to leave a sufficient space (area) for the transmission/reception antenna.